Culture 2: non-Lutherans… for Luther? P. Smith, Michelet, Jay, Hedge

        This concludes from Part 1 in a 2-part blog presenting F. Bente's report on the cultural benefit of the Reformer, Martin Luther. — This segment presents an extended array of "non-Lutherans", even a Roman Catholic and a Unitarian, testifying for Luther. — From Der Lutheraner vol. 89 (1933), p. 364 [EN]: 

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Luther's cultural influence.

 

The American Reformation historian Preserved Smith says: 

“Luther's work is the beginning of the present age. It is fair to say that every person in Western Europe and America is living a different life today than he would have lived, and is a very different person than he would be if Luther had not lived and worked.”

[Jules] Michelet, a Catholic historian in France, says: 

“Luther is the restorer of the liberty of the present age.”

John Jay, the first chairman of our federal Supreme Court, says:

 

“No country has more cause than our republic to remember with joy the blessing which Luther has secured for the whole world by winning freedom of thought and conscience, and by expressing the seal of Christianity to our modern civilization. Although America had just been discovered by Columbus, yet Luther's far-reaching influence, still felt from the Atlantic to the Pacific, contributed to the settlement of our continent by such settlers as laid the foundation of its future freedom.” 

The Unitarian F. H. [Frederic Henry] Hedge of Harvard University, who translated Luther's “Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott” into English, writes: 

“We owe our civil independence to the Saxon Reformer.… We Anglo-Americans, above all other men, owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Luther for our national independence and religious liberty.”

Luther preached nothing but the old Gospel of Christ, the power of God for salvation for all who believe it. With this he made the Church unspeakably rich again. But neither has the world and its culture become poorer as a result. The modern age dates from Luther onwards. The Reformation means at the same time the reorientation of the whole world. The source of all that is good in the modern state and in modern culture in general is to be found nowhere else than in Luther's Reformation. F. Bente, 1917.

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      A rationalist writer/philosopher, a rationalist historian, a Catholic historian, an Episcopalian Chief Justice, and a Unitarian “Transcendentalist” Harvard professor — quite an eclectic group that Prof. Bente chose to quote. But his purpose was only to show that even in the sphere of civil righteousness and culture, the influence of Luther was recognized.

Bente: Luther's cultural influence, "a single man" (Der Lutheraner)

      The above title caught my eye when reviewing the volumes of Der Lutheraner.  It was a short blurb by Prof. Friedrich Bente, published in 1933, 3 years after he had passed away. The editor in 1933, probably Prof. Ludwig Fuerbringer, appeared to be honoring the memory of Prof. Bente with this posthumous publication. But more than just a remembrance, Bente's subjects are always decidedly Lutheran, and edifying.  The general praise of Luther's influence in the world is an antidote to the embarrassing treatment of Luther by today's LC-MS scholars. — In this first part, of a 2-part post, he quotes a well-known non-Lutheran historian. — From Der Lutheraner vol. 89 (1933), p. 364 [EN]:

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Luther's cultural influence.

 

F. Bente

The real purpose of Christianity is not to promote culture, but to save men spiritually and to bring them eternal salvation. But when a man has become a Christian, the new life force naturally has a powerful and healing effect in all directions, like a leaven. Therefore, as a by-product of the victorious course of Christianity, enormous cultural upheavals necessarily followed. Through the papacy, which in spiritual terms is essentially a return to paganism, this cultural movement was also partly inhibited and partly led astray. Through Luther the Gospel and the Church was free again, and the salutary influence of Christianity could now assert itself anew in all directions on civil and cultural conditions. We will let some non-Lutherans speak about this.

The English writer Thomas Carlyle writes:

 

“The Diet of Worms, and the appearance of Luther at it on April 17, 1521, may be regarded as the greatest event in the modern history of Europe, indeed as the moment when all subsequent civilization began. Here on one side the power of the world is enthroned; on the other side, a single man, the son of the poor miner, stands up for divine truth. Our plea, the plea of the whole world to him was this: ‘Deliver us; it is up to thee; forsake us not!’ Luther did not leave us in the lurch. It was, as I have said, the most significant moment in the modern history of mankind. England's Puritanism, England and her Parliament, America's many-sided activity during two centuries, were here germinated. Had Luther acted differently in that hour, all would have been different in the world.”

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      Franz Pieper also used the praise of Englishman Carlyle in his 1921 essay for the N. Dakota/Montana convention (see p. 8 here). He also called Carlyle a rationalist.  Although Bente did not reveal this, he did call him a "non-Lutheran", a strong signal to these Old German Missourians to not understand these persons in a spiritual sense, but only in a cultural sense. — In the next Part 2, Bente quotes four more "non-Lutherans".

LCMS moderate didn't "Walkout", but should have (on Science and the Bible)

[2024-06-06: added reference page link to Hausmann's book in red below]

     While reviewing the latest book in the Concordia Historical Institute's (CHI) "Monograph Series", Rediscovering the Issues Surrounding the 1974 Concordia Seminary Walkout, (only $19.99!). I discovered a reference to a book, authored by an LC-MS pastor, that I was previously unaware of.  The reference was made by Rev. Dr. Armand Boehme in his essay "Creation and the Fall".  The essay is generally commendable in revealing the history of the change of doctrine by the teachers in the LC-MS, although I would suggest that the door to evolutionary teaching began even before the 1950s (p. 175). His references to support the literal meaning of Genesis 1-3 from Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions was most helpful. My upload of the famous "Blue Book" to the Internet Archive will also aid readers to follow the many references to that book by Dr. Boehme, and also by the other CHI essayists. 

 

Rev. William John Hausmann

    The book in question was Science and the Bible in Lutheran theology: from Luther to the Missouri Synod authored by Rev. Dr. William John Hausmann (1930-2015, obituary, Legacy) in 1978 (free to borrow for 1-hour periods).  This book, along with several other references in the CHI book, are available to read for free for 1-hour borrowing periods on the Internet Archive. This book was a dissertation for his PhD degree from Drew University.  When one researches his affiliation, we find that not only was he born into the LC-MS, he evidently did not leave it during the infamous "Walkout" of 1974, since one finds that he was an "Interim Pastor" at an LC-MS church in Pennsylvania after his retirement in 1990. 

      What is significant about this is that Dr. Boehme reveals on page 179, footnote # 43, that Hausmann gave a "positive view of [Prof. Norman] Habel’s essay" (2024-06-06: on p. 107-109). Who was Prof. Habel?  He was one of the Concordia Seminary professors who joined the "Walkout" of 1974.  What did Habel teach? According to Dr. Boehme, he taught according to the "historical-critical method" (p. 74, 177) and that Genesis 3 was a "symbolic religious history". 

       So Hausmann's public "positive view" in 1978 of Habel's and Concordia Seminary's teaching, 4 years after the "Walkout" in 1974, demonstrates that although the LC-MS seemed to have won the "Battle for the Bible", it had not fully done so — by disciplining those who still sympathized with the "Walkout" teachings. Hausmann speaks of his own duplicity in his pastorate on pages 113-114, saying that although he would not preach about his actual belief of "accommodation" with "science" in his sermons, yet 

"Bible classes, Sunday school, confirmation instruction appear to be the place to discuss in detail the relationship between science and Scripture, the theological, philosophical, and scientific problems, questions, and possible solutions that would arise from such a dialogue", 

… that is, the "accommodating" relationship between Scripture and "science falsely so-called" (1 Timothy 6:20).

      This seemingly small situation has larger implications, for it demonstrates that Dr. Boehme is in fellowship with the Synod that found room for pastors, such as Hausmann, who publicly did not believe the official Scriptural teaching of the Synod. (Hausmann even claimed Luther for his "accommodating" cause.) It demonstrates that the "Issues" addressed in the CHI book were never fully resolved… to this day, not withstanding CHI's efforts to speak otherwise. 

      More on the CHI book on the "Walkout" to come…

Luther's Bible on 1 Peter 3:21— "answer", "appeal", "pledge" — or "covenant" in Baptism

     While reviewing Pieper's volume 3 of his Christliche Dogmatik, I ran across another example to add to the list of passages for the superiority of Luther's Bible over most English translations. On the passage 1 Peter 3:21, the major English translations render it as follows:

• KJV: The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
• RSV: Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
• NIV: and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
• ESV: Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,"

The Greek reads as follows:

"ὃ ἀντίτυπον νῦν καὶ ἡμᾶς σῴζει βάπτισμα, οὐ σαρκὸς ἀπόθεσις ῥύπου, ἀλλὰ συνειδήσεως ἀγαθῆς ἐπερώτημα εἰς Θεόν, δι᾽ ἀναστάσεως ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ"

So we see the various renderings in the bulk of English Bibles, including the translation that the LC-MS uses, the ESV.  

      But Dr. Franz Pieper gives the best explanation of not only the word in question, but also the definitive answer to the question of the meaning of that word (Christliche Dogmatik 3, p. 323, fn 1096, or Christian Dogmatics 3, p. 275, fn 32)]: 

The meaning of έπερώτημα is in dispute. In the New Testament the word occurs only here [in 1 Peter 3:21]. Profane Greek furnishes two meanings. Its first and original meaning is “question, inquiry, interrogatio.” From this its forensic use in later Greek for “covenant, stipulatio is derived. … Those who here render έπερώτημα as “interrogation” understand the passage to say, with some shadings of the thought, that in Baptism the baptized appeal to God or pray for a good conscience. This meaning is excluded here, since according to the context the statement here concerns what Baptism itself is, and not what the candidates for Baptism or the baptized do in Baptism. For this reason one has to retain Luther’s rendering: Baptism is the covenant of a good conscience toward God or over against God (είς θεόν). 

 

One may read this passage in Luther's Bible in English with the LED Bible published at this page:

"Which therefore also makes us blessed in baptism, which is signified by that, not the putting away of filthiness from the flesh, but the covenant of a good conscience with God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

It is a great tragedy that American Lutheran Christians have been deprived of Luther's Bible by the loss of the German language after World War I. May Pieper's spiritual explanation of yet another benefit of Luther's Bible encourage more to make use of Luther's Bible in an English translation. Every Lutheran, like me, should take this verse to heart. and stand firm against the Reformed errors on the Sacrament of Baptism.

Frdm4: Rabbi, apostate Jew, Christian, Lutheran, missionary: Friedmann (Part 4)

      This concludes from Part 3 (Table of Contents in Part 1) presenting Pastor Nathaniel Friedmann's 1898 Der Lutheraner report of his mission work for the NYC Jewish population. — Friedmann concludes by looking back through the centuries of Jewish mission history, and marvels at God’s grace in his time. Rather than complain of how few are converted, he rather sees, as he stated at the beginning, how the work “has made some gratifying progress”. — From Der Lutheraner, vol. 54 (1898), pp. 206 [EN]: 

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On our Mission to the Jews.

[by Pastor Nathaniel Friedmann, Part 4]

After careful observation of the Jewish missionary history before and after the Reformation, it is a special grace of God when 40-60 Jews willingly listen to a sermon by a "Meshumed" (apostate Jew) without arguing, quarreling or causing disturbances. From December 15, 1896 to August 18, 1898, 2,292 Jews heard the public sermon on the grace of God in Christ Jesus, the Messiah promised by God and appearing in the fullness of time.

In addition to public preaching, all of the undersigned's remaining time is used to personally preach the saving Gospel to the Jews. This is done partly through home visits, which the undersigned makes daily to the Jews, partly through the opportunity offered to the Jews to speak to the missionary privately, in the mission as well as in his home, in order to obtain information about all their questions concerning the Christian religion. <column 3> 

75 India St., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Friedmann's address — same building?

So far, not a day has gone by without two, three or even four Jews visiting the undersigned in the missionary office. One has something to criticize about the sermon heard on Saturday, another wants clarification about a passage in the New Testament, a third comes to complain about his earthly hardship and rightly expects the missionary to take care of him physically. Since the above dates, 1,442 home visits have been made and 2,002 private visitors received. In order to give the poor blinded Jews the opportunity to reflect on the truth of the Gospel at home, 2,957 Jewish-German and Hebrew tracts and 144 New Testaments have been distributed among them to date. Bible lessons with short lectures on Christ in the Old Testament were also held every Tuesday and Thursday evening in winter; however, only a few people attended them. The total number of Bible study attendees during the above dates amounted to only 93 people. In this way the undersigned is now trying to scatter the seed of the Gospel among the Jews as well, with firm trust in God and His promise that His Word shall not return void. Isaiah 55:11.

Nath. Friedmann, 

75 India St., Brooklyn, N. Y.

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      The Christian Cyclopedia of today and the 1927 Lutheran Cyclopedia only mention Daniel Landsmann's name in relation to the Old Missouri Synod's mission to the Jews. I was surprised by this as Pastor Nathaniel Friedmann, as evidenced by the above report in Der Lutheraner, was also a very notable figure in the early Jewish Mission. One could wonder that the 1927 edition did not want to report the names of living individuals, but that is not the case for the updated LC-MS edition which is less informative than the 1927 edition.

      What a joy it has been to translate and present this account by the dear Pastor Friedmann. His certainty of faith gave him such strength to withstand all of the obstacles and continue in the work of the Lord. —  May this presentation educate and encourage others as it did me. In Jesus’ name! Amen!

Frdm3: “the blinded and fanatical Jews” (Friedmann, Part 3)

      This continues from Part 2 (Table of Contents in Part 1) presenting Pastor Nathaniel Friedmann's 1898 Der Lutheraner report of his mission work for the NYC Jewish population. — After painting a bleak picture of mission work among the Jews of NYC, he, a former rabbi, now teaches these German Lutherans (and me) the scriptural mandate for this mission work. Along the way he presents a characterization of the Jews that is likely not used today. But why? — From Der Lutheraner, vol. 54 (1898), pp. 206 [EN]:

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Of our Mission to the Jews.

[by Pastor Nathaniel Friedmann, Part 3]

But should <column 2> interest in this mission wane, or perhaps even go dormant? Not so, dear Christians! The conversion of the Jews is not our work, but God's, as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself answered the Jews when asked what they had to do in order to do God's work: "This is God's work, that you believe in Him whom He has sent," John 6:29. Our work in the Jewish mission, on the other hand, is to preach the saving Gospel to the Jews according to the command of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The venerable Jewish Mission Commission has appointed the undersigned to do this on behalf of the Synod. The chairman of the above-mentioned commission has recently reported that the seed of the Gospel is being scattered among the Jews according to the ability that the Lord God gives to the missionary. 

70 Pitt Street, NYC:
mission location

Every Saturday afternoon a public sermon is held in the mission locale at 70 Pitt Street in a language understood by the Jews [probably Yiddish, “a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews”]. To the glory of God, it can be reported that Jews of both sexes, young and old, attend the sermon in large numbers and listen attentively and thoughtfully. You can see how the power of the Gospel is working on many of them. Even before Easter of this year, the Commission recognized the need to enlarge the missionary local. A wall was removed at the expense of the mission, so that we now have a large hall for preaching. Our Evangelical-Lutheran Jewish mission, which is the only one in this great cosmopolitan city, is also becoming more and more well-known among the Jews from day to day, and it has recently become clear to the undersigned that Jews also notice the difference between a Lutheran and a fanatical sermon and give preference to the former. For after several Jews had gone from our mission to another for lack of space, they finally came back to our services, and preferred to stand in our cramped local hall than to have a comfortable seat in other missions. 

It is clear from all this that it is not outward appearances, but the power of God alone, which lies in the pure, clear preaching of the saving Gospel, that attracts also the Jews, the blinded and fanatical Jews, to the missionary services. For often Jews come to the services who are still such zealots that they do not want to sit in the mission without a head covering and therefore keep a small cap on [Kippah]. 

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      While Friedmann’s mentor Landsmann did not become a pastor but only worked as an “evangelist”, Friedmann became a Lutheran pastor. He specifically highlights above that the Lutheran Church’s doctrines were fully rooted in God’s Word, and so lets God do the work in the hearers. — 

      Those that watch American TV and movies find themselves immersed in the programming of Jewish screenwriters and producers. These are among those persecuting the Jewish converts to Christianity. — In the concluding Part 4…

Frdm2: Jewish “prejudices against Christianity”, “Shemhamforash”; Luther vindicated

      This continues from Part 1 (Table of Contents in Part 1) presenting Pastor Nathaniel Friedmann's 1898 Der Lutheraner report of his mission work for the NYC Jewish population. — In this segment, one hears how difficult Friedmann’s work was as he labored against “prejudices against Christianity”. His recounting of the Jewish “Hanged man” fable of “Shemhamforash” is an abbreviated version of the same fable as in Martin Luther’s writing “Vom Shem Hamphoras”. — From Der Lutheraner, vol. 54 (1898), pp. 206 [EN]:

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Of our Mission to the Jews.

[by Pastor Nathaniel Friedmann, Part 2]

Oh, how much injustice is not done to the Jewish mission if one judges it only by the number of conversions and wants to show interest in this mission accordingly! Consider how difficult it is for a pastor to show conversions among those who were born and raised in the midst of Christianity. With the Jews, however, the prejudices against Christianity in which they were brought up must be added. For no sooner is a Jewish child able to understand the language than it is taught by its Jewish parents about the sacred birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the most shameful and disgraceful way, so that when it hears the name of Jesus, it is filled with such hatred that it spews out and blasphemes.   

After all, the Jews have the rabbinical tradition of the “Mase Tuli”, the story of the hanged man, in which they believe. From it the Jew learns that the Lord Jesus came into the Holy of Holies of the Temple and there stole the "Shemhamforash", a wonderful name of Jehovah, and sewed it into the thick flesh of the foot. It was only through this stolen "Shemhamforash" that Jesus was able to perform all the miracles. The Jew is brought up in this belief from childhood. Added to this is the hatred and hostility of the Jews towards such an Israelite who publicly confesses Christ as his Messiah and Savior. As a "Meshumed" (apostate), a Jew who converts to Christianity is mocked, ridiculed and bitterly persecuted by his brethren according to the flesh. The fanaticism of the Jews today is still the same as that described by the holy Apostle Paul in the Acts of the Apostles. And according to the teaching of the rabbis, a Jew who has converted from Judaism to Christianity is guilty of death. The fact that such a convert loses his position and thus his livelihood among his tribal neighbors hardly needs to be mentioned, but the Jewish mission cannot emphasize enough how difficult it is to find a Christian who is willing to take in such a Jew suffering for the sake of Christ or grant him employment in his business. Even our Jewish mission recently had the sad experience of a young man losing his job with an Orthodox Jew because it was discovered that he had attended the services in our mission, and despite all the efforts of the undersigned it was not possible to find him another job. All this makes it understandable that progress in the Jewish mission can only be slow and that in many respects it is a "seed of hope". 

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      Although World War II would come several decades later, one wonders that even today the stigma attached to the Nazi treatment of the Jews would not have hindered Friedmann from exposing this infamous Jewish fable. And he was a full-blooded Russian Jew according to the flesh! 

      In his “Vom Schem Hamphoras”, Martin Luther stated in the opening paragraph how the Jews “are as possible to convert as the devil”.  In that paragraph, Luther refers to those who “blaspheme with their Schem Hamphoras” as the “Jews”. Luther is evidently not referring to individual Jews, but particularly the Jewish teachers, the rabbis. Luther delineates this further when he refers to those under the rabbis as the “unfortunate captive Jews”. Luther would have rejoiced in the days of Landsmann and Friedmann who did indeed convert. The latter "rabbi", Pastor Friedmann, vindicates Luther's use of the “Shemhamforash” by using this same fable that Luther exposed to illustrate the hardness of the “Jews”. One suspects that Rabbi Friedmann himself, before he converted, had taught this same fable to the Jewish people in Russia. It was only by God’s surpassing grace that Friedmann was converted, and then sent by the Old Missouri Synod to the lost sheep of “Israel”. — In the next Part 3 …

Jewish Mission to NYC: Nathaniel Friedmann (Der Lutheraner 1898) Part 1

"Rabbi", Pastor Nathaniel Friedmann
(from JewishRoots.net)

      While reviewing the issues of the Der Lutheraner magazine for OCR work, another article caught my eye concerning the Old Missouri Synod's mission to the Jews of New York City (NYC).  And so this post follows the earlier series from 1886 that featured their first "Jewish" Christian missionary, Daniel Landsmann. As remarkable as that account was, the following account of Landsmann's successor, the second "Jewish" Christian missionary, also a former rabbi, Nathaniel Friedmann, further opens the window to reveal the "mystery of Israel's conversion". The background history of Friedmann was provided by the "messianicjudaism.me" website, now only available on the Internet Archive copy:

“Rabbi Nathaniel Friedmann was sent from Russia to win [Daniel] Landsmann (above) back to Judaism in 1889. However his discussions with Landsmann resulted in Friedmann coming to believe in Yeshua’s Messiahship as well. He later was ordained as a Lutheran Pastor and became Landsmann’s successor, and served in NYC until 1941.”

Landmann's powerful message converted the rabbi who was sent to convert him back to Judaism! Friedmann was "ironically becoming Landsmann's successor", as reported by JewishRoots.net.  I had to laugh with joy when I first read this history.  But as startling as this was, so instructive and salutary was Friedmann's report of his work. And along the way, we hear this former rabbi's account of a Jewish fable that vindicates Martin Luther. Now let us take a trip to New York City, of 125 years ago, and hear of this missionary's work among… the Jews of NYC. — The following is from Der Lutheraner, vol. 54 (1898), pp. 205-206 [EN]: 

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On our Mission to the Jews.

[by Pastor Nathaniel Friedmann, Part 1]

From the venerable Jewish Mission Commission, the undersigned has once again been given the task of publishing a report on the Jewish Mission in the “Lutheraner”. God grant that interest in the work among the "lost sheep of the house of Israel" may be promoted by the same for His glory and for the salvation of many souls from Israel.

With thanks to God, the undersigned can once again report that our mission to the Jews has not regressed, but has made some gratifying progress. This does not mean that large numbers of Jews have been received into the Church of God through Holy Baptism, as some Christians might have expected from the Jewish mission. But such progress is not promised to us in God's Word. For the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments promise us in the conversion of Israel only a "Shear", only a remnant, "according to the election of grace". Thus the evangelist of the old covenant, the prophet Isaiah, prophesies: “In that day the remnant of Israel, and they that are saved of the house of Jacob, shall no more rely upon him that smiteth them; but they shall rely upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall be converted, even the remnant in Jacob, unto God, the strong. For though thy people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, yet the remnant of them shall be converted.” Isaiah 10:20-22 [Luther, LED]; cf. Isaiah 3:12-13, Ezek. 6:8. <p. 206> 

Therefore the holy Apostle Paul, when he wants to reveal to us the mystery of Israel's conversion (Rom. 11:25), expressly testifies that only those “foreknown” (Rom. 11:2), only the "remnant according to the election of grace" (Rom. 11:5), only “some” of them (Rom. 11:17) will be saved.

If this is the teaching of Holy Scripture, we certainly have no reason to lose interest in the said mission, or even to lose heart, if our mission to the Jews does not show a large number of conversions, but rather we have great cause to thank the Lord of the Church from the heart if only "some" are saved like “a brand out of the fire” through the preaching of the Gospel.

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How vividly Friedmann paints the realities of his mission work, using the Holy Scriptures, that not “all Israel” after the flesh will be saved, but only a “remnant”. In the next Part 2, he shows just how much prejudice the rabbis have implanted in their people against the Christ, and does not hold back about their infamous fable. I was surprised…

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Part 1: this Introduction; "only 'some' of them (Rom. 11:17) will be saved".

Part 2: Jewish “prejudices against Christianity”, “Shemhamforash”

Part 3: “the blinded and fanatical Jews”; "not our work, but God's"

Part 4: Friedmann: Rabbi, apostate Jew, Christian, Lutheran, missionary